Wounded
by NicoleTheresa1
Summary: This is my first shot at Bethyl. My thoughts on what happened after the tragic and awful MSF. Now that Daryl is out recruiting he comes across some tracks and decides to follow them. Bethyl Bethgreenlives One big shocking twist


**I know this has been done and it is really predictable and I am working on a twist that is gonna make it great. I just needed to get this out there as I am still not over the MSF and I am totally in Denial land. #bethgreenelives This might just be a one shot it may become more. I am not sure. I don't own anything TWD aside from a calendar and the DVD sets. **

Everything that happens, happens for a reason. We have to hold on to what we are not who we were, we have to let God take over sometimes. Let him bring about miracles or take away what we are afraid to give up.

Everything has a plan, a plan that will make or break you. Everything that you do sets this plan into motion, and guides you to the end.

"I get it now." I said as I stabbed those scissors into Dawn's shoulder. I knew it was stupid, I knew it would not end well. I couldn't let her have him, besides when they told me of the plan I knew I had to go along. Sure I'll miss Maggie and Glenn and everyone else from the group. I think I'll miss Daryl more than anyone. That time we spent in the woods together came back to me in a flood of memories as a bullet ripped through the air, I fell limp to the ground as it exited the back of my head, having entered through my forehead near the hair line. I could feel the blood pooling around me and hear the strangled sobs Daryl chocked on. Next thing I knew I was in his strong arms my life fading from me as I kept playing those days with him over and over again. Sunlight shone bright on me as I lay limp in his arms, a loud scream pierced the air around me.

"Beth, you were right." I hear in the fogy muddle that is my brain. "I miss you so bad." I single tear falls down my cheek. I think it's mine but I could be mistaken. Then blackness surrounds me. I don't know what happens next. I don't know where I am or who I'm with, all I see is black and all I hear is static.

"Daryl you have to let her go. We have to go." Rick said gripping my shoulder as she lay in my arms, unmoving, dead. "Daryl, come on brother we gotta go." He tried to take her from me but I pulled her closer to my chest. I saw the empty car before my mind knew what was happening, I picked her up higher and made a run for the car. I locked her inside having laid her gently down, my vest the covering her face as I had to leave her behind.

I followed the group fighting through the onslaught of walkers, making my way into the big fire truck. Maggie sat beside me in a ball leaning against Glenn. Her shaking and sobs were beginning to be too much. I let the numbness take over. I could feel Carol take my hand but I pulled away. I didn't want sympathy or comfort. I want her. I can't have her. Lost is the only feeling left.

Fuel ran out and so we walked. Leaving Atlanta behind for good. I thought before I was done with this place, having lost Merle close by. Now I know that a part of me will always be left here. Locked up in a car near a damned hospital. I don't mean the vest that was practically a part of my body, I am talking a piece of my heart that will never grow back. As long as she is there and not with us, as long as I am wandering alone and lost things will never be good.

"We can't just leave her in that car." I told Sheppard.

"Dr. Edwards what do you expect us to do?" She replied.

"Go and bring her in. She deserves to be dealt with better. They had no choice but to leave her, we can't let her go un buried." She complied, taking two other cops with her. The laid her down on the bed she had been using during her time here. Being a doctor I couldn't just let it go. Knowing the possibilities were slim to none I placed my fingers on her neck to check for a pulse. A slow unsteady beat hit my fingers. "SHEPPARD." I yelled, she appeared in the room immediately.

"Wha..." She started before I cut her off.

"She's alive, barley but she's alive. Get the OR ready. I need to fix this." She didn't hesitate she just did as she was asked. " Come on Beth you can do this. Live."

"I don't think this place is gonna work." Carol said from her place on the front porch of the house we had been given. Alexandria seemed like a paradise but something was missing. Something is always missing.

"We can always take this place." Rick said. I looked up at him.

"Yes we can." She replied to him. I looked back down and fiddled with the bow in my hands.

The following night was some big party, a party that I refused to attend. Instead I somehow ended up eating some really great spaghetti with Aaron the man who brought us here and his partner Eric. Nice guys who I imagined would be living in a big city singing show tunes. She would love them, the ache in my chest growing strong the longer I sat here with them.

"Maggie seems great, real sad though." Aaron piped up from his spot at the table.

"mmhmm." I mumbled. He just stared at me.

"You didn't talk much out there on the road." I just kept my gaze with his levelly. "Why is that."

"I aint playin' 20 questions."

"Okay fine how about one question."

"Fine." I grumbled not sure if I would be answering it.

"Why is Maggie so sad, she has Glenn and they seem like they should be happy. They are alive and healthy." Eric just stared at me with that damn grin and inquisitive eyes.

I wanted to answer him and tell him all about the girl who would no doubt be best friends with them if she were here. I wanted to tell them about her singing and how she sounded like an angel. I wanted to say how I felt when I was with her and of all the things we went through together after we lost our home. I wanted to say a lot of things but the only thing that came out was a strangled sort of sob. I stood abruptly and made my way to the bathroom. My fists clenched and held tightly to the white porcelain sink. I looked at myself in the mirror for the first time in who knows how long. Serious spaghetti and serious piggybacks ran through my mind. Pig's feet and jars of peanut butter, damn dogs and walkers. I made my way back out to them, they both wore looks of shock and disbelief. But neither said anything for a few minutes.

The silence in the room palpable.

"I'll clean up." Eric chimed.

"I wanna show you something." Aaron said to me his voice higher then it was before. I grumbled a response and followed him. He opened up a garage, part were scattered all over the place. "I tried to fix it up but I am not very mechanical and I don't know what I'm doing." I gave him a small chuckle. "Can you fix it?" He smiled at me. "I mean if you can it's yours, I don't need it."

"I can fix it."

"Good also I have a job for you. I asked Deanna to avoid giving you one because I wanted to see if you would be the right guy for the job."

"Why?"

"I don't want Eric out there anymore, I want him here and safe and you know how to survive and you can tell the difference between good people and bad people. I want you to be a recruiter with me."

"Alrig' I s'pose that'll work."

"You wanted me to try." I told Rick and Carol outside at an old abandoned home. "I'm good." They didn't fight me on it for which I'm pretty damned grateful. "I'm headin' out with Aaron tomorrow mornin' we are going to find more people. Won't be back for a coupla days."

"Be safe out there." Rick said.

"Come back to us Daryl, we still need and want you with us." Carol told me placing her hand on my shoulder. I hadn't spent much time with her anymore, I couldn't, she had seen me at my worst that day in the hospital. They all had, I hate that they saw my weakness. The pity in their eyes overwhelms me.

The next morning I hopped on the now fixed up bike and the gates opened up. Her knife strapped to my thigh was my only reminder of her and the people I call family. Aaron followed behind me in the RV that brought us here. We made it to Georgia before I even knew what was going on in my own head. "Over here." I whistled as I knelt down to inspect some tracks.

"What is it?"

"How in the hell did you find people before?"

"I spotted them and then followed a safe distance. What are you doing."

"Two sets of boot print. Larger boots probably a man, fairly heavy maybe 210 pounds. This one could be either a male or female, depends if they are good at tracking and keepin' quiet in the woods. Ain't perfect its how I spotted em. They are about three days old, heading north."

"Wow." He said.

"Listen since we are in Georgia I gotta make a stop in Atlanta. I need to find something."

"Okay it's not too far from here let's get a move on we could make before the light goes." He said. He never questioned me, something I haven't gotten accustomed to yet.

"You aint even wanna know why were are going into a hot zone?"

"I got your back you got mine, if there's something you need to do I'm here to help. Whatever it is, has to be worth something to you or we wouldn't be in Georgia. Nothing you do is an accident Daryl, you drove here without stopping and that means you left something behind and you are here to claim it."

"Hmm." We took off into the city. Dusk was setting in as we approached the old police car that housed her body. The hospital was dark but I knew they were watching. "Keep your head down, Walkers all over and this hospital aint empty of people."

"People we could take them in."

"No these are bad people."

"You have met them?"

"They are the reason Maggie is sad all the time." Was all I had to say to shut him up.

"Are we here for her body?"

"Who told you about that?" I almost begged. I didn't want him to know about her, I didn't want any of these new people to know we had lost the only shinning light in this dark world.

"Maggie mentioned it in her interview, I watched all the tapes. You loved her." I didn't say anything and kept moving forward. I peered in the window. Nothing. It was empty save for a blood stain on the seat and a small chain on the floor. I flung open the door and thumbed the small necklace. I had seen it around her neck a thousand times but never gave it much thought.

"Son of a bitch." I whirled around to face him, my face hot with anger. "She's gone. She can't be gone." I started to hyperventilate. Aaron stood by unsure of what to do.

"We moved her."

I stood up and slowed my breathing. "You killed her."

"I shot her yes. I had to, we couldn't kill Dawn ourselves but with the right motivation you could. You did."

"You killed her. You killed her." I moved closer to the woman standing before me. My hands reaching out to circle around her neck then she spoke again.

"No. Follow the tracks." She said. I began to process what she said when she vanished back into the hospital.

"Follow the wha." I spun around to face Aaron. "Let's go." We hopped on the bike and blurred out of the city. "We are gonna follow those people from earlier today. We are gonna find them. WE are gonna save them and they are gonna live."

"Okay." He replied. I didn't expect him to say much more.

I parked the bike near the RV and we made our way back into the woods, I picked up the trail easily. "How do you know this other person is good at tracking?"

"This person was taught how to track by the looks of it, how to be invisible and not heard. You gotta learn that someday."

"Sorry." Aaron mumbled. I held up my hand to make him stop moving. A small fire crackled in the distance. Darkness had finally settled in, we slowly and quietly made our way towards the makeshift camp.

"Do not move." I heard in a melodious voice as a sharp blade pressed against my throat.

Waking up in that damned hospital again made my mind reel. I was groggy from being sedated, and my head was pounding. I leaned over the side of the bed and threw up, nothing much came up. "Beth how are you feeling?" Dr. Edwards stood just inside the door. I glared up at him, afraid to use my voice. "Not being able to communicate correctly is normal with trauma like yours." He kept talking. "Do you know who you are?"

I nodded my head.

"Do you know where you are?"

Once again I nodded my answer.

"Do you know what happened to you?"

"Shhee... Sheppard shot me." I spit out with as much venom I could muster. I laid back down into the pillow letting my eyes drift closed.

"Dawn is dead."

"My people think I am dead." I said without moving my head or opening my eyes. "They had to leave me behind didn't they."

"Yes." His reply hit hard but it didn't shock me in the slightest. I could still feel Daryl's strong arms wrapped around me. Protecting me.

"I want to leave here." I told him.

"As soon as you are fit to travel we will have supplies and a car ready for you." Dr. Edwards said, his voice sounding weary. "We are not holding people here anymore. You are free to go." He left the room then. The pounding in my brain wouldn't stop and sleep soon took over. Three weeks later I was up and ready to go. They gave me a bag of food and water and extra fuel to make the trip to where ever was next for me.

"Beth?" Sheppard called to me. I had found the faith and the strength to forgive her for making me lose my family. She walked up to me, something bunched up in her hands. "This was placed over your head when we found you in the car." She unfolded the black leather vest revealing two angel wings. Wings I would know anywhere. Tears welled in my eyes as I stared at the vest. His vest. She handed it over to me and I slipped my arms into the armless sleeves. I was swimming in it as he is so much bigger than me. "Go find your people. Go find your heart." She said as a way of saying goodbye.

Leaving the city behind was like lifting a heavy weight off my chest. I drove along back roads hoping to avoid any herds or dangerous people. Daryl had taught me that, he taught me a lot of things. So when the car ran out of gas and I was left to walk, I knew how to not be heard and how to leave no trace. Well not no trace. I am nowhere near as good as he is. "Who are you?" I said as I came up to a man standing near an open church. His knife rose in the air but he made no motion to attack. "Are you alone?"

"Names Morgan, who are you?" My gun was pointed at his head but he didn't seem bothered by it. "I'm alone." I bit my lip as I pondered my next move.

"I'm Beth."

"Well Beth looks like you gotta nasty scratch on your forehead."

"Bullet hole actually." I smiled my brightest smile.

"You were shot in the head and survived?" He said stunned.

"Long story." I lowered my weapon. "Maybe you can help me find my people." I walked over to him and held out my hand. He shook it gently, I don't know why but I felt that I could trust this stranger. "Maybe they were here at some point. It safe to go in?"

"Yeah it's clear. The people I'm looking for were here, gonna head to DC to find em. Your welcome to come along if ya want."

I thought it over for a moment. "Can we stop in Richmond. I think my people may have gone there to get a friend of mine home. He said he had a safe community."

"Don't think nothin' is safe no more but we can check it out. Maybe find those people of yours."

And that is how we ended up in the woods. Lost in back woods Georgia with no idea how to get back to a highway and find our way to Virginia. We made camp like we did every night. Using skills Daryl taught me and new things Morgan was showing me, we got settled. "I'll take first watch." I pulled the vest tighter around me, cinching the belt around my waist to keep it from falling off. I wandered out into the woods to check the area, darkness had fallen when I heard footsteps heading to camp. I snuck up behind the two men, placing my knife to the throat of the more dangerous looking one. "Do not move."

The nicely dressed one spun around raising his gun in my direction. We were still far enough away that Morgan could not hear what was going on. "Drop the knife lady." He said to me. I pulled it closer to the man's throat.

"Beth." The man on his knees whispered. I almost missed it, the knife loosened a bit and he used it as an opportunity to get free. He stood staring at me, his eyes wide with fear and recognition.

"DARYL." I yelled jumping into his arms. He held me tight, his hands splayed across my back. "I found you." I whispered. The man who was with him lowered his gun. Morgan had heard my scream and came running to us. His gun at the ready. "Morgan NO." I called out. He stopped and lowered the gun. I stayed rooted in Daryl's embrace.

"A dream. This is not real." I heard him mumble. "You died." I slid down my toes hitting the rich dirt. He turned to Aaron. No words were spoken from him but the other man must have understood.

"I see her too." He looked at me with kind eyes. "She is real." Daryl's head snapped back to look at me.

"I'm really here. I'm really alive." I wrapped my arms around his middle and leaned my face against his chest. I could feel his heart beating before he started falling to the ground. I fell with him, my eyes locked on his. "I found you. I really found you." I leaned my forehead against his, I could feel his hot breath on my lips as he struggled to breathe.

"Beth." He breathed out. I leaned in closer and placed my lips on his before I even knew what I was doing. I parted my chapped lips as his tongue sought entrance into my mouth. Our tongues began to mold together like they had once before. I pressed my body closer to his, begging to be as near to him as possible. His arms circled around me pulling me closer. Our hearts beating together. A throat cleared behind us pulling us from this moment.

"Safe to say ya know each other." Morgan said with a chuckle.

"Where is everyone else. Rick, Judith, Maggie..." I asked looking into his blue eyes. He just stared at me a while longer before the stranger spoke up.

"We have a town. Alexandria. It is safe." I stood up and pointed my knife at him. Daryl reach up and placed his hand on mine silently telling me to lower it.

"This is Aaron he is a good guy." I looked at him in shock. "You were right." He looked down at the ground not wanting to meet my gaze.

"About what?" I asked smiling.

"There are still good people." I almost didn't hear him he was being so quiet. I reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it lightly to let him know how much that meant to me.

"We are tracking you both. Keeping an eye to see if you are safe enough to bring back home." Aaron said. I shifted uncomfortably.

"She is coming back to town." Daryl said his teeth gritted together. "No arguing."

"I wasn't going to argue they both seem like they would make great additions to town." Aaron said again looking at Daryl. I turned to Morgan to see what he was thinking.

"Did you say Rick?" He asked looking directly at me.

"Yeah." I answered automatically. "Why you know him?" I asked him surprised. The world being so small you hardly ever met people who knew other people that are still around.

"Rick Grimes is our constable." Aaron piped in.

Morgan breathed a sigh of relief. I could see his face turn from fear and exhaustion to one of peace. "That's the friend you have been looking for?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes I met him in King County back when this whole thing was still new, been searching a long time." He sat down on a log nearby. "We should head to this town in the morning."

"We could leave now." Daryl finally spoke up. I looked at him, sensing the concern in his voice. "Make it back by mornin'."

"We have been walking all day. Can we leave at dawn? Maybe get a bit of sleep." I asked him, my voice low.

"Fine. I got watch." He said practically dragging me back to camp. I ran a little to keep pace with him. He sat on the log I had planned to use during my own watch. Morgan lay back down to try and get a few hours of much needed sleep. I sat down beside him and leaned my head against his shoulder. He was tense like he used to be. I laced my fingers through his, at first he didn't move or respond but slowly he relaxed at little squeezing my fingers gently. "You were dead."

"I was almost dead. They pulled me out of the car to dispose of me properly and being a doctor he checked my pulse and found a really slow one. He operated and then a week later I woke up with a headache." He reached his hand up to stroke the small circular scar on my forehead. His eyes bored into mine, a deep blue sea of mystery and full of storms. "I thought I would never see you again." I cried. He pulled me close wrapping his strong arms around my tiny frame.

"I didn't want to leave you there we were supposed to take you with us. We were going to go find a nice place for you..." He started chocking on a sob. "We were overrun and and we had to leave." I placed my hand over his lips telling him in my own way that he didn't need to worry about explaining it to me. I understood.

"I could feel what was going on for the most part. The last thing I remember hearing was an ear piercing scream."

"Maggie."

"Is she okay." I said without much emotion.

"Yeah, she's fine. Wasn't for a long while but she has Glenn." Then I remembered what I saw when they took me and were driving back to Atlanta. The signs she left for him.

"She gave up on me right from the start." I muttered. He blinked in confusion for a moment. Shrugging his shoulders he looked out to survey the area. "In that car, we passed by some old electrical thing and in blood was written 'Glenn go to Terminus. Maggie'." I looked down at my hands.

"She didn't even try to find me. She figured I was dead right from the start." I let a few tears fall silently down my cheeks. His thumbs brushed them away before he spoke.

"When I found them again I told her you were alive. She didn't want to believe me. She went off on some stupid mission instead of coming with us to find you. I aint gonna excuse what she did, I know she love's ya but she should have looked for ya."

"Did anyone really look for me?"

"I did. I chased that damn car until I hit a fork in the road and had no idea which way it went. I looked for cross cars everywhere." He looked back up at me his eyes burning. "We got to that Terminus place, and we almost died. They trapped humans and took their stuff before turning em into meals. We got out, all of us. After that we found an old church and Carol was gonna take off but I followed her and we saw one of them cars so we followed it. I told her what had happened, how I lost you."

"It wasn't your fault Daryl none of it was."

"That damned Noah kid tried to steal my crossbow, it's a miracle I didn't kill the kid. He is how we got to you."

"I know I kinda figured since he was there with you." I smiled slightly. "Is he okay?"

"As far as I know. They are all back in Alexandria, living with their manicured lawns and power." He said looking around again.

"Power as in running water and showers?" I questioned a little too enthusiastically.

"Yeah." He smirked. I leaned my head against his shoulder once again, our fingers still laced together tightly as I let sleep take over.

The last few hours went by in a daze. Beth was back alive and well and even more damned gorgeous then I remembered. Her blond hair spilled down around her shoulders as she slept against my arm. Her breathing even and steady. From the moment I realized she was gone from that car I felt as though my whole world had ended. I no longer had a purpose for going. Then she was behind me holding a knife to my throat. It wasn't until later after she had drifted to sleep that I realized she was wearing my old vest, the one I left with her in that car. I kept my hand in hers as she slept, terrified that she would vanish if I couldn't feel her anymore. Morgan has woken after a few hours to take over watch, I let him but I didn't move. I leaned my head down onto hers and slept for a bit.

"Good Morning!" She beamed as I opened my eyes.

"Mornin'." I mumbled out in response. I snapped my eyes open, staring down at her. "It was real."

Her laugh was like music to my ears. "Yeah it is." Soon after we got on the path back to where we stored the bike and the car. The walk back was kept quiet to avoid any walkers that may be passing by. It didn't take too long either for which I was super grateful. "So I finally get to ride on the back of your bike. You know I was always so jealous of Carol." She admitted. I look at her with a smirk.

"Why."

"Because you too were so close, and she got to ride the bike and hang out with you. I don't know I just always felt like you only saw me as some dumb kid who tried to kill herself."

"I did for a while. Then it was just us and I knew I was wrong." She smiled that giant smile at me again. A smile I know I don't deserve to see. I let her down. She got taken on my watch and then 'killed' on my watch. I could still feel the warmth of her blood on my neck, the look of the floor covered in the deep crimson.

"I get it I was young and dumb. I'm different now."

"You are." He agreed. "About that night in the funeral home."

"Don't. We don't need to talk about it."

"I don't regret it Beth."

"Neither do I." She said to me, moving to climb on behind me. "You guys go on ahead." She waved the others off. They took off and headed back to town.

"Why are we waiting?"

"I need to tell you something. It's something big and I don't really know how to say it and I don't know how this is going to go."

"Just spit it out girl." Her eyes filled with water as she began to cry. I grabbed her hands and held tight, she leaned into me so I wrapped her in my arms unsure of what was happening. She pulled a small piece of paper from her bag and handed it to me as she stepped back.

"It's gone." I stared down at the picture and realized what it was. I stared up at her not knowing what to say so I pointed at myself. "Yeah. The shock from the bullet made me lose it."

"That's why there was so much blood."

"Yes." She cried again. I pulled her into my arms. "Please don't tell anyone." I nodded against her head and held her tightly.

"We will get through it. I won't ever leave you." I told her.

"I won't ever leave you again." Came her muffled reply. She hopped on the back of the bike and held on tight. I sped off towards this new town, and a new life with Beth included. No more separation and no more death for a while. The world might still be shit but it's a little brighter with her by my side.

**So I might make this more chapters and go a little deeper but for now I just wanted to get this out there. Also I didn't really have a chance to edit but it shouldn't have to many mistakes. Please let me know what you think and if you think I should continue. If I do keep it going Maggie and Beth will interact some.**

**Enjoy!**


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